Gail,
You make great points. Context is critical when using words to communicate=
.
Take the word 'media'. Depending upon your context, media can mean digital=
storage, stuff to culture microbes, or a form of communication.
For some the word 'fermentation' only means a biological process to make al=
cohol. While this definition is true, it is not the only way or context, as=
to, how the word is used.
Take a look at this link to see another (broader) context for the word 'fe=
rmentation ':
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30875131/basic-Fermentation-Technology
Thanks for sharing your experience about the power of words.
Happy Holidays
Mike
--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, gail raby <amberflame_at_...> wrote:
>
> One of the best college classes I ever took was
> on psychological persuasion techniques.
> I learn how advertising by marketers or politicians (etc.)
> used language to persuade / entice you to buy stuff, or
> to believe in them. How advertising appealed to unconscious mixed
> motives. (Implied but not stated: This car makes you a hot sexy dude =
> and you will get the girls.)
>
> The many ways people spin information
> or market public images with emotional and "symbol"
> words or imagery (God, Country, Flag, Church, Children)
>
> I also learned how difficult interpersonal communications are due to
> word usage and languaging
>
> On the very first day of class, she said:
> I am going to tell you what the words I will be using will mean.
> If at anytime I use a term I have not predefined and you are
> getting lost, ask me for a specific definition and meaning and even in =
> what context I am using it.
>
> That way we all have a better chance of being "on the same page"
> and you will be more able to understand what is being discussed.
>
> Years later, she came to mind when I was having a phone
> conversation. After debating with a friend about a given
> issue for some 30 minutes, I discovered we actually agreed
> on the issue. The problem was every time I used one word
> I hit a "hot button" he had -- I had one connotation for it, he
> had another another. The word was discipline -- for him it
> brought up all sorts of bad memories of a hostile angry drunk father
> who disciplined with a belt or his fists; to me it mean
> instructing and setting boundries of acceptable behavior. To
> him it meant brutal punishment; to me it meant teaching and
> guiding. For what he was describing, I would use the word
> punishment but punishment went over the line into child abuse. But,
> seems these days with all the zero tolerance kind
> of thinking in instutitions, discipline is nothing but punishment.
>
> It brought home what I had forgotten -- words mean different
> things to different people. Even in the dictionary, the meaning
> of any given word can be variable. And over time, word meanings
> change. Eg: The gay old flapper days vs the gay world today.
>
> Its interesting how we all have our own imagery to go with
> even simple words -- say the word chair. A camper may think of
> a foldable portable chair, an ego maniac will picture a throne;
> and a thief may think of the electric chair. And with the picture
> comes a whole frame of reference, memories, and very different
> emotional states.
>
> I once asked a garden worker at a public garden if they used
> compost tea. Immediately his face filled with disgust. He
> replied: ... yes he had tried it, then said all manner of derogatory =
> things about it. Since I was with others and needed to move along, I =
> didn't have time
> to find out what "tea" he used, or how he got it or made it -- or any =
> ask other specifics. But I doubt we had the same substance or
> concepts in mind.
>
> Picture we are at a community garden planning event: You say we need
> some fertilizer. My mind goes to cow patties and vermi-compost, I
> picture ordering some seed meal and azomite (etc.etc) from out of
> town, about putting lots of organic substances in a pile and mixing
> them up. Another wonders whether Maxicrop or Neptune brand organic all-
> in-one liquid would be a more economical buy. And still another will =
> picture a hose-end spray bottle preloaded with Miracle Grow and their =
> mind starts searching for the nearest nursery that has it. If there
> is a farmer on the committee, then the thought will most likely be
> that its simple; just buy a couple bags for 13-13-13.
>
> Steven, you make a really good point about the word organic.
> But even that is not enough in some cases. I helped a friend
> landscape her front exterior bed and teach her about organic
> methods -- the whole nine yards. One one trip she so proudly showed
> me the bag of organic fertilizer she had gotten from a box store --
> you should have read the ingredient list -- it had Organic blazoned
> across the front along with some key organic buzzwords but was chock
> full of synthetic chemicals. As a newbie, how was she to know. She
> trusted the marketing and the maker. Buyer beware.
>
> Having to define your terms or specify your specific meaning
> for a term on the front end can be time consuming but it can
> save more time on the back end -- or in the long run. I am not
> suggesting we all use "lawyer-ese speak", just some simple specificity.
>
> That makes it more likely that we can create
> harmony and enlightenment and those "aha" moments of clarity
> instead of contentiousness, confusion, or dis-engagement.
>
> Language is both our salvation and our damnation depending
> on how we use it, frame it, present it, define it, and etc.
>
> g
>
Received on Tue Dec 20 2011 - 19:26:55 EST